The Scoop - March 13, 2017
Posted by Heather Rutz on Mar 14, 2017
Work ethic, humor drive Bob Ulm.
Childers Media Group News Director Bob Ulm discussed on Monday a career in local radio and nearly a lifetime of adapting in a world he does not see.
Ulm began his 40-plus-years career with Delphos radio station WDOH as a teenager. He has been blind since retinal cancer took both of his eyes at age 1. For decades he and his service dogs have walked the mile from his home to the radio station in the middle of the night to start his shift. That first broadcast came reporting on a City Council meeting in 1973; by 1974 he had a full-time job at WDOH.
“Like many jobs, I suspect I got this one because no one else wanted to do it,” he said, laughing.
Ulm’s sense of humor has carried him through being blind (He named his blog ‘The Way I See It’) and his news career. His news casts, both live and recorded, are heard on multiple Childers Media stations in the Lima area, including three live cut-ins on 93.1 The Fan with well-known sports broadcaster Vince Koza, “which proves that into every life a little rain must fall,” Ulm joked.
Ulm credited his parents with his work ethic and his outlook. Those two things drove him, he said. He said he was fortunate to find a career in a place that gave him a chance. Four million people in the United States are totally or partially blind, and at least 60 percent of them are unable to find work, Ulm said.
While a person who is blind certainly understands he couldn’t drive a vehicle, that person would also make a fine dispatcher, Ulm said, with some adaptations aided by technology. A person with a disability often isn’t looking for pity, just an equal shot, Ulm said.
With a little show and tell, Ulm demonstrated how people start to learn braille, how people “read” news stories or emails, and how people use canes or service dogs. Using his black lab, Ulm took a blindfolded Jay Begg on a walk around the room. It was truly, Ulm said, “the blind leading the blind.”
In other Rotary business Monday:
It was a philanthropic day for the club. Lima Rotary Club gave $5,000 from proceeds of the reverse raffle to Lima Salvation Army; $12,000 in scholarships to nontraditional students; and more than $24,000 in proceeds from several fundraisers to the Lima Rotary Foundation.
President Dave Frost encouraged members to attend two upcoming District 6600 events, the assembly and conference.
Ulm began his 40-plus-years career with Delphos radio station WDOH as a teenager. He has been blind since retinal cancer took both of his eyes at age 1. For decades he and his service dogs have walked the mile from his home to the radio station in the middle of the night to start his shift. That first broadcast came reporting on a City Council meeting in 1973; by 1974 he had a full-time job at WDOH.
“Like many jobs, I suspect I got this one because no one else wanted to do it,” he said, laughing.
Ulm’s sense of humor has carried him through being blind (He named his blog ‘The Way I See It’) and his news career. His news casts, both live and recorded, are heard on multiple Childers Media stations in the Lima area, including three live cut-ins on 93.1 The Fan with well-known sports broadcaster Vince Koza, “which proves that into every life a little rain must fall,” Ulm joked.
Ulm credited his parents with his work ethic and his outlook. Those two things drove him, he said. He said he was fortunate to find a career in a place that gave him a chance. Four million people in the United States are totally or partially blind, and at least 60 percent of them are unable to find work, Ulm said.
While a person who is blind certainly understands he couldn’t drive a vehicle, that person would also make a fine dispatcher, Ulm said, with some adaptations aided by technology. A person with a disability often isn’t looking for pity, just an equal shot, Ulm said.
With a little show and tell, Ulm demonstrated how people start to learn braille, how people “read” news stories or emails, and how people use canes or service dogs. Using his black lab, Ulm took a blindfolded Jay Begg on a walk around the room. It was truly, Ulm said, “the blind leading the blind.”
In other Rotary business Monday:
It was a philanthropic day for the club. Lima Rotary Club gave $5,000 from proceeds of the reverse raffle to Lima Salvation Army; $12,000 in scholarships to nontraditional students; and more than $24,000 in proceeds from several fundraisers to the Lima Rotary Foundation.
President Dave Frost encouraged members to attend two upcoming District 6600 events, the assembly and conference.
